Sven-Goran Eriksson has pinned his World Cup hopes on him. But while his club team mates battled it out for the Champions League title, Theo Walcott was not even on the subs’ bench.

The untested 17-year-old, who could be playing a key role for England in three weeks, was training with Sven’s squad in Portugal â while Thierry Henry and the rest of the Arsenal took on Barcelona in Paris.

Walcott even took time out to enjoy a stroll with girlfriend Melanie Slade. Meanwhile, in the run-up to last night’s big match, Paris was awash with burgundy, blue and yellow, as tens of thousands of Arsenal and Barcelona fans brought a festival atmosphere to the city.

Supporters of both sides gathered around the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysées waiting for game time. With each club allocated just 20,000 seats, touts were demanding up to £2,000 for a ticket.

Fans took desperate measures in a bid to get into Stade de France. Some placed ads in Parisian newspapers, others posted flyers in phone booths, while a few desperate Gooners gathered at the Eurostar terminal waving banners offering money for tickets.

Elsewhere, a few clearly deluded gunmen burst into a nearby town hall demanding tickets from mystified councillors.

St Denis mayor Didier Paillard said: ‘We never have any tickets, just invitations which cannot be sold.’Eurostar, which has transported 14,000 fans since Monday, put on two extra trains, each carrying 750 people, to deal with the late rush yesterday.

One of the rare fans with tickets to the game said: ‘I would have sold the wife â football comes first.’

But most were not so lucky. Robert Wells, 36, from Essex, said: ‘We’ve come here in the hope of finding a ticket and for the atmosphere.’ In Arsenal’s North London heartland, pubs were packed with supporters.